Learning Dispatch - November 25th, 2017 - Books, Films and Medical Memoirs

Notes on Sessions at the Tata Literature Live 2017

The Tata Literature Live 2017 festival was organized in Mumbai from 16th November 2017 to 19th November 2017. On Day 1, I attended a panel discussion titled Reading like a Writer and a debate on whether we were living in a nanny state. On Day 3, I attended four talks titled, 'The mystery of JD Saligner', 'Berlin, London and Mumbai: How Cities inspire new narratives', 'Poets translating Poets' and 'Judging the Judges'. You can read the description of each of these sessions in some of the links provided above or on the Tata Lit Live website. We ended the day with a two hour play on an Irish Freedom Fighter in the Tata Theatre at NCPA.

Learning Dispatch - October 27th 2017 - Notes from MAMI

The 19th Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival was held in Mumbai from 12th to 18th October 2017. There were over 200 films being screened at over 18 screens around the city. 

Image Credit - https://www.mumbaifilmfestival.com/Programme/ecatalogue

These are some notes from the few films I got to watch at the festival this year. I have attached a link to the trailer for your reference and further exploration. 

1. Thelma is a science fiction film about how a girl's super-natural powers to make people disappear affects her life. 
2. Loveless is the story of a broken marriage in Russia and its repercussions on the neglected child of this failed relationship. 
3. Redoubtable is a fictional depiction of the French Filmmaker Jean Luc Godard's relationship with his second wife who was much younger than him. 
4. mother! is a psychological horror film about how a couple's relationship is disrupted when uninvited guests start arriving at their home. 
5. Up, Down and Sideways is a film about a group of rice farmers in Nagaland who worked as a cooperative but had a tradition of singing love songs while farming in the field. 
6. A Suitable Girl was my highlight of the festival. It is the story of three Indian women in their mid 20's. They are well educated but yet face a lot of pressure from their families to get married and settle down. The three women come from different geographic (Rajasthan and Mumbai) and professional backgrounds (Finance, Education, Marketing). But the struggle to choose between their family's expectation of them as daughters of the house and their own dreams and desires is a common theme that unites these three stories. 

I am glad Mumbai has its own film festival. I really enjoyed my time at the festival this year. I wish I could have seen a few more films. But I am glad I got to watch whatever I eventually got to watch. 

Abhishek 

October 27th, 2017

Learning Dispatch - August 27th 2017 - On Reading Murakami

Reading

I spent some time reading two short story collections by the Japanese writer, Haruki Murakami. The titles of the books were, 'Men without Women' (2016) and 'Blind Willow, Sleeping Women' (2006). A close friend had recommended picking up some of his work after she read his novel, 'The Wind Up Bird Chronicle'. I was first introduced to Murakami through his memoir about writing titled, 'What I Think About, When I Talk About Running' that described his passion for running. I once read a quote by him that said that his writing largely depended on Characterization, Dialogues and Description. I wanted to get a glimpse into his world and I thought short stories was a good way to get started. He commented on his love for the form as follows in a piece about his earlier short story collection, 

"I find writing novels a challenge, writing stories a joy. If writing novels is like planting a forest, then writing short stories is more like planting a garden."

Image Credit - www.harukimurakami.com

Learning Dispatch - March 3rd, 2017 - Watching Arrival and Collateral Beauty

Why the dispatch? - I want to understand how we can make our learning more social. I love having conversations with friends and colleagues about new things we have learned. So these dispatches are part of an effort to get those conversations started.

In the movie, ‘Collateral Beauty’ (watch the trailer here), the protagonist, Howard Inlet (Will Smith) is a successful advertising executive. The movie starts with this statement by Howard,

‘What is your why? Why did you get out of bed this morning? Why did you eat what you ate? Why did you wear what you wore? Why did you come here?….The big why. We are certainly not here to just sell chit. We are here to connect. Life is about people. Advertising is about illuminating how our products and services will illuminate people’s lives. Now how do we do that? Love, Time, Death. Now these three abstractions connect every single human being on earth. Every thing that we covet. Every thing that we fear not having. Everything that we ultimately end up buying. Because at the end of the day, we long for love, we wish we had more time, and we fear death.’

The scene then shifts to a time period three years in the future. Howard is now divorced and his 6 year old daughter has passed away. He is not able to focus on his work and this leads to lots of problems at his workplace. During this time he writes letters to the abstract ideas of Love, Time and Death. His partners at the agency are worried. They hire three actors and a private investigator to prove his instability with regards to his mental health. These actors meet him as Human Representations of Love, Time and Death. The private investigator plans to record his interactions with these actors to document instances of his mental instability.

In the movie, ‘Arrival’ (watch the trailer here), 12 alien spaceships decide to pay planet earth a visit. They park themselves at 12 different points around the planet. Each country where the spaceship has landed launches an independent investigation into tackling these visitors. 

Learning Dispatch - March 25th, 2016 - Reading and Viewing

Why the dispatch? - I want to understand how I can make my learning more social. I love having interesting conversations with friends and colleagues about new things I learned. So these dispatches are part of an effort to get those conversations started. I am also very curious to know more about what you have been learning this past week in return for sharing some of the learning highlights of my week.

I started exploring some Russian fiction this week. I also bought a new book about New York city and saw a lot of old and new Indian movies this week. Here is some raw thought and reflection on what I was fortunate to learn this past week:

 

Film Review - Queen

Ambitious Storyline, Strong Central Character, Beautiful Visuals and music that represents the story and character well. Queen was a surprise. A mainstream delight!